Kevin Harvick on Charlotte post-race fracas: NASCAR loves it

By foxsports
Published

As Kevin Harvick was doing celebratory burnouts after winning Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a more riveting post-race activity was taking place behind him.

After a hard-fought night on the track, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin tried to fight Brad Keselowski off the track. Contact after the race on the race track and on pit road led to fisticuffs and emotions typically not seen from the likes of Kenseth.

Yet after the race, opinions differed among their fellow competitors on what was to blame for the post-race excitement.

Race runner-up Jeff Gordon pointed to Keselowski and his past run-ins with Hamlin and Kenseth, while race winner Kevin Harvick explained the new Chase format has made things so intense, this is the result

"He must have been pretty mad. I think Matt is a pretty calm and collected guy," said Gordon. "Over the years he and I have had our incidents but that was because I was mad. I don't think he was mad at me. I can't remember. I wrecked him one time and I don't remember him being mad at me that much. And he's never come and tried to put a headlock on me. We usually talk it out.

"Obviously there was some built-up animosity towards Brad," he said. "I'd better hold the rest of my thoughts back to myself."

While NASCAR was collecting information and sorting out details for potential penalties, Harvick explained he was behind the initial contact between Keselowski and Kenseth on the restart with 70 laps to go.

"When you see Matt Kenseth mad enough to fight, you know that this is intense because that's way out of character for him," said Harvick. "But I was right behind that moment and lost two or three spots going into Turn 1, as well, when Brad basically took a right and shoved him into the fence."

But Harvick said there was more to the emotion than just hard racing amongst competitors.

"I think that every moment matters in this Chase, and Matt Kenseth knew that that one particular moment could have been the end of his Chase," he said. "That's the bottom line. That's how intense this whole Chase is. I didn't see what happened between the 2 (Keselowski) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin), but I saw the 2 hang a right and just stuff the 20 in the fence, and we all checked up, and the 20 hit the fence and I have no idea where he finished."

With eliminations potentially ending your title hopes every three races, Harvick believes the new Chase format is creating more intensity on -- and off --€“ the track.  

"When you see that emotion out of Matt Kenseth, you know that NASCAR has done the right thing to this Chase because everybody is on offense and gouging for every single position that you can get every lap," he said.

Now, does Harvick think NASCAR will take away points from any of those involved in the post-race incidents?

"You're crazy. They love it," he said of the sanctioning body. "They were fighting afterwards. That's what it's all about. No way. In the car you make a decision, you see somebody coming, you block him, you shove him in the fence and you try to -- you suffer the circumstances as you go forward. You know, I would say if the 2 goes forward, 20 wrecks him, no doubt."

VIDEO: Matt Kenseth jumps Brad Keselowski following Bank of America 500